Louisa Pickard

Thesis title:

Bathroom to Bedroom: interpreting early modern bodily functions. My project title is: Performing Periods: uncovering the shame surrounding menstruation in early modern arts.

Research Area

English Language and Literature
Languages and Literature

Publications

Prisoners of the Womb: Pregnant Prisoners in William Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale' and 'Measure for Measure' (Cahiers Élisabéthains, 2025).

Conferences

The Ideal and the Ugly, The University of Warwick, 2025:

Through sickness and through health: early modern narratives of the menstruating body as a feminine ideal

Popular Recreations, The University of Birmingham, 2025:

Music, Menstruation, and the Moon: Female Virtue and Menstrual Resonances in early modern Balladry

Britgrad, The Shakespeare Institute, 2025:

The Object-ification of Women in William Shakespeare's Othello and Cymbeline

IRCL Networking Seminar, Université de Paul Valéry III, 2025:

Performing Periods: Uncovering the Shame surrounding Menstruation in early modern Performing Arts

Britgrad, The Shakespeare Institute, 2023:

Prisoners of the Womb: Pregnant Prisoners in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and Measure for Measure

Scholarships and Awards

Research Development Fund: IRCL, Montpellier (2025)

Research Development Fund: Wellcome Trust, London (2025)

Midlands4Cities AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (2024-present)

Music Scholar at The University of Birmingham (2017-2021)

Background and Education

I completed my BA at The University of Birmingham in 2021, achieving a first class in my dual honours English Literature and French degree. During this time, I completed an Erasmus year in Montpellier, France, and spent my final year specialising in women's literature, fairy tales, and maternity.

I then undertook the Shakespeare Studies MA from 2022-2023 at The Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and was awarded a Distinction. Here, my research built upon my interests in women's studies and the female body, such as pregnancy, gossip, and the objectification of women, as explored in early modern performing arts.

Teaching

I currently work as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Warwick and am delighted to join their English and History departments. I teach seminars and specialist close reading sessions on the Medieval and Early Modern Studies undergraduate module (2025-2026).

Previously, I worked for two years (2021-2022, 2023-2024) as a lectrice at the Université de Paul Valery III in Montpellier. There I taught undergraduate English Literature, Language and History classes, supervised final year dissertations and ran supplementary language exchange events. Alongside this, I was also welcomed into the IRCL (Institue de recherche sur la Renaissance, l'age Classique et les Lumieres). I worked with members of the department on Shakespearean research and submitted to their journal Cahiers Élisabéthains.